> So if anyone really knows a simple programming environement,
> I would love to hear it.

If I were wanting a general purpose language for relatively young children 
I'd have a very close look at traditional BASIC.
Using a small subset of instructions I suspect that you could teach a bright 
7 year old to program. How old are the children to be.

The "trouble" with "real" languages is the complexity required to make them 
simple. Strong typing, predeclaration of variables etc.

BASIC can pretty much survive on LET (implied usually), GOTO, IF-THEN-ELSE 
(or even just IF THEN, ) plus some I/O and arithmetic/operators. Line and 
area drawing commands and colour commands are optional and desirable. 
(FOR-NEXT and WHILE DO type constructs may be added if desired but IF THEN 
plus LET handles most things.

HOWEVER

If you don't want a general purpose language and want to introduce 
programming concepts then the Battling Robots type games may do well. 
Commands are provided to set direction, speed, shields and firing. Robots 
are created and then tested against each other. I have seen versions with no 
true conditional looping structures but I consider them too limited. Lots of 
fun.



        Russell McMahon



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